Why Thread?

That’s the question I’m asked every time I tell someone where I’m interning this summer. It’s also one of the first questions Lee and Kelsey asked me during my interview.

Honestly, I probably wasn’t able to accurately express my enthusiasm during the interview (thankfully Lee still hired me), but as I’ve worked here during the past few weeks I’ve been able to flesh out my answer. But in order to understand why I chose Thread, you probably should know a little about my background first.

A little about me.

I major in Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability at The Ohio State University, which is a mouthful, I know. I usually just tell people I major in sustainability and business (since that’s technically my specialization within the major). EEDS, as it’s known around campus, is a relatively new interdisciplinary major at Ohio State that incorporates the human dimension while attempting to sustainably solve world problems. More specifically, I study how businesses are incorporating sustainability into every aspect of their operations.

I’m also involved in a few awesome student organizations on campus. On basketball gamedays at Ohio State, you can see me leading the Men’s Basketball Student Section, the Buckeye NutHouse.

However, I’m also involved an amazing organization called BuckeyeThon, which hosts a Dance Marathon every year with all the proceeds benefiting children at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (for all the Penn Staters out there, this is our version of THON). Through BuckeyeThon, I’ve developed a passion for philanthropy and have seen firsthand the benefits of “paying it forward.”

BuckeyeThon raised over $1,000,000 for the first time ever last year

The Search.

While I am passionate about all the things I’m involved in outside of the classroom, I was having trouble finding an internship that I could be equally passionate about. I had ideas about the type of work I might like to do, but not a lot of direction on how to get there.

Pictured: me looking for a career

But I did know one thing. I didn’t want to work at a company where I would be waiting for the clock to hit 5:00 every day. I wanted to work for a mission-driven company where I could use the passions I had found at Ohio State.

Enter, Thread.

Ten minutes on their website and reading their impact report was all I needed to buy in. What immediately caught my eye was that Thread is a registered B Corp driven by a triple bottom line philosophy, both of which I had become interested in throughout the course of my studies. Thread is also committed to developing their company in the city that I know and love – Pittsburgh. Furthermore, I found it refreshing that Thread tracks the impact of their products, from Ground to GoodTM, in an industry that is notoriously murky in its ability to provide that kind of information.

After doing some more digging, it became abundantly clear that Thread is a team that not only has a passion for philanthropy and sustainability, but also firmly believes in the work they are doing.

I wanted to work at Thread for one simple reason; I believe in Thread and in the people who run it with every fiber (ha, get it?) of my being.

This belief didn’t just stem from casual interest. Everything about Thread’s mission resonated with me; they’re solving a major world problem in a sustainable fashion while bettering the lives of others. Thread’s mission jives with everything that I’ve studied and experienced at school. It was only natural that I get on board.

And once the rest of the world catches wind of what’s going on here in East Liberty, I have a strong suspicion that they’ll take notice too.

I’ll be writing more about my experience throughout the summer, so stay tuned…